EPIC TCG

[Gaebril]

Epic is a trading card game by Robert Dougherty with development by Darwin Kastle.

In Epic there are no cumbersome "resource" or "land" cards. Instead, each turn every player has a single action. The most powerful cards cost an action to play, others are free. The biggest decision point each turn is usually which card in your hand to use your action on and how and when to use that card.

This simple system allows for incredibly fun and interactive play right out of the pack. Each 15-card pack is specially sorted and balanced for sealed play. Just shuffle any two packs together to make a 30 card deck and you're ready to play!

[Gaebril]

EPIC is on sale at NG for just 50 per booster so I decided to give it a spin.

According to the game description, you only need two boosters per player to have a credible sealed deck game -- it's true! EPIC really doesn't need a lot of cards in terms of collection and deck construction, because I was having a lot of fun playing it out of totally random booster packs. This is one of the very few CCGs that you can play real sealed deck with. Actually, EPIC doesn't need any sort of deckbuilding to enjoy - just shuffle up two boosters and you can start playing.

Gameplay-wise, it's nearly identical to Magic, except that resource management is dialed down to a minimum. You have one action point each turn, and all the cards only cost either 1 action point, or it's free. No lands or anything like that. Turn structure and combat also works a little differently, but it's really just a 5-minuite explanation away from Magic. Every single card is bombastic - In four booster packs, we opened four Wrath effects.

Now, this game won't appeal to people who want a lot of resource management in their card games (and you can go play Warhammer: Invasion if you do). Also the art direction is simply atrocious - card art is all CGI that looks about 10 years old. All the cards are broken, so sometimes you feel that whoever draws the most broken cards wins.

Despite these flaws, this is an incredibly fun game. It totally skips over the "strong deck vs weak deck" feature that most CCGs have. EPIC distills all the fun of a high-powered game of Magic circa 1995 that I think modern CCGs have decided to walk away from.

A++ would play again.

[maskmanjoe]

Just like Super Tramp!

and the art direction is simply atrocious - it's the same guys that did Battleground Fantasy Warfare, and you can see that they re-used some images and sprites

Lolz! To be fair, the Lizardmen art of Battleground Fantasy Warfare was pretty good.

[Talismanic (Mark)]

Just like Super Tramp!

and the art direction is simply atrocious - it's the same guys that did Battleground Fantasy Warfare, and you can see that they re-used some images and sprites

Lolz! To be fair, the Lizardmen art of Battleground Fantasy Warfare was pretty good.

He he he just saw this. "Super Tramp", made me think of Courtney Love, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Hohan... hmmm... that could be a game. 

And if Justin Bieber wants to claim being the "Kurt Cobain" of this generation, then I say go blow your brains out kiddo. 

I've seen this on sale in NG, and while it piques my interest, I have no real urge to buy it. I'll stick to Yugi-oh on the PSP, and Marvel VS on the PC. 

[Gaebril]

Epic fills a completely different niche though - since you can shuffle up from a common deck, it feels more like an aggressive RftG than a customizable CCG.

The main difference from CCGs is, you don't need to find an opponent "who plays Epic" to play Epic.